Water Problem

[liamodr]

Planning to start my first AG brew in the next few weeks. I have a problem though with my water. There is a strong smell of chlorine off my tap water. I am planning to brew a Hefeweizen but am afraid of using Whirlfloc tablets in case it affects the beer. If I brew with the tap water untreated it will definitely affect the quality of the beer. I have access to deionised water at work but could do without the hassle of hauling 35L of di-water home from work.

Essentially what I am asking is, will whirlfloc affect cloudiness/flavour the Hefeweizen? Are there other water treatment products available that would be more suitable?

 

[jamesb]

I think you're getting confused with Whirlfloc and camden tablets.

Whirlfloc helps colagulate the proteins in the wort to give a clearer beer. Whether this is acceptable in the style of beer you're doing, I don't know - I don't brew or drink that type of beer.

To remove chlorine and chloramine, you want to use camden tablets or sodium metabisulphate. Use half a tablet per 5 gallons of water, or half a teaspoon of sodium met.

 

[Aleman]

Whirlfloc is a kettle fining and NOT a water treatment . . . The usual method of chlorine removal is to use 1/2 a campden tablet in the water (its good for 10 Gallons) prior to brewing. You should have no worry about it affecting the beer in any deleterious manner . . . in fact excess sulphite is beneficial as it acts as a reductone later int eh brewing process, preventing or reducing oxidation. Winemakers regularly use 1 tablet per gallon which has no deleterious effect . . . and when brewing pale beers I often use 4 or 5 during the mash and boil for the reductone prevention which stops excessive wort darkening.

Another way to remove chlorine is to use a carbon block prefilter (which is what I use)

RDWHAHB - Beer just wants to be made

 

[tubby_shaw]

To remove even the strongest (allowable) chlorine/chloramine additions from your tap water just add 1/2 of a campden tablet crushed, or the equivalent amount of sodium metabisulphate powder :thumb:

Just to clear up any confusion liamodr, whirlfloc is a copper fining which helps to coagulate wort proteins during the boil, it's not a water treatment. It is added to reduce the risk of haze in pale beers.
You could add whirlfloc to your Heffeweizen boil if you like, it will not have a detrimental effect.
The haze in a Heffeweizen comes from the yeast, heffe being the German word for yeast :thumb:
If you leave a Heffeweizen to settle and then pour without disturbing the sediment you will have Kristallweizen :party:

Edit. Beaten to it by JamesB and Aleman

 

[liamodr]

Thanks for clearing that up for me guys. I'm a newbie to brewing so expect plenty of silly questions over the summer.